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ANIMALS AND PLANTS

No one knows how many different kinds of plants and animals there are. Some scientists estimate the number at three million. Many of them provide us with food, clothing, shelter and medicines. Some, including several kinds of insects, pierce our skin and feed on the blood. Others, both plants and animals, even live and grow inside our bodies. In this way they may cause diseases. You can see why scientists study living things with great care. Our lives may depend on how much we have learned about the living things around us.

Because there are so many different kinds of plants and animals, the task of the biologists is not an easy one. Up to the present time it was named and described more than 840,000 kinds of animals and 345,000 kinds of plants, to keep track of this great number of living things a system of classification has been set up. Plants and animals are sorted into groups according to the way they are built. For example, the tiger, the leopard, and the lion will be all grouped together. All of them belong to the cat family. All the members of the cat family, in turn, belong to a larger group that includes such meat-eating animals as the dog, the bear. They have teeth that are built for tearing and cutting flesh. Their sharp claws help them to capture and eat their prey. In this way, all plants and animals were classified by their structure. All living plants and animals were divided into two kingdoms: the animal kingdom and the plant kingdom.

Among the smallest and simplest living things there are some that are difficult to classify. There are tiny plant-like cells that can swim about actively in the water. In some cases, the classification of these is still in doubt.

The animal kingdom, as we have seen, includes many thousands of different animals. Scientists classify them further as follows:

Animal kingdom:

A. Invertebrates (Animals without backbones)

1) One-celled animals

2) Sponges

3) Cup animals (jelly-fishes and corals)

4) Spiny-skinned animals (star-fishes and their relatives)

5) Worms

6) Molluscs (oysters, snails, squids)

7) Jointed-legged animals (lobsters, spiders, insects)

B. Vertebrates (Animals with backbones)

1) Fishes

2) Amphibians (frogs, toads, salamanders)

3) Reptiles (snakes, lizards and turtles)

4) Birds

5) Mammals

The plant kingdom includes tiny one-celled plants that can be seen only with a powerful microscope and the great redwood and sequoia trees of the Pacific coast, the oldest and the largest living things on earth.

Down through the ages, man has relied upon plants for many of his needs. The beauty of plants enriches our lives. Most important of all is the fact that the other living things in our world could not exist very long without their plant neighbours.

Some plants have no roots, stems or leaves. Some of them consist of only one cell. Others, like the giant seaweeds may be more than 100 feet long. They are divided into two main groups. The algae have green chlorophyll. They can make their own food. The fungi have no chlorophyll. They must get their food from other plants and animals.

Notes to the text:

in this way – таким чином

in turn – у свою чергу

up to the present moment – до теперішнього моменту

to take саге – турбуватися, дбати

3. Translate the following words bearing in mind the meaning of the affixes and memorize them:

to estimate (v), estimation (n), estimate (n)

to provide (v), provider (n)

care (n), careful (adj), careless (adj), carefully (adv) .

to depend (v), dependent (n), independence (n), dependent (adj)

to describe (v), description (n), descriptive (adj)

to classify (v), class (n); classification (n)

to act (v), actor (n), actress (n), action (n), active (adj)

power (n), powerful (adj), powerless (adj)

beauty (n), to beautify (v), beautiful (adj)

4. Supply the nouns corresponding to the following verbs:

to construct, to engage, to develop, to include, to estimate, to differ, to resemble, to provide, to know, to divide, to derive, to depend, to discover, to vary, to acquaint, to define, to value, to specialize, to describe, to classify, to act

5. Translate the following word-combinations into Ukrainian and use them in the sentences of your own:

to do one's best, to be certain, in spite of, to keep track, in common, no matter, in turn, according to, in this way, to take care, to be of great value, to keep healthy, to make a contribution, of the same sense

6. Give another word or phrase of similar meaning to the following:

substance, to be similar to, to study, to consider, to construct, discovery, important, resemble, minute, earth, century

7. Answer the questions:

1) How many different kinds of animals and plants exist in the world?

2) Why is the classification of living things necessary?

3) How are living things sorted into groups?

4) What are the differences between animal and plant kingdoms?

5) How do men use plants and animals?

8. Translate into English:

I.

1) Чим займається твій брат? – Він біолог. – А чим він займається зараз? – Працює в лабораторії. Я телефонував йому півгодини тому.

2) Не приходьте до мене завтра о другій. У цей час я буду займатися зі своїм учнем і не зможу з вами поговорити.

3) Де ваш друг? – Він у читальному залі. Він вивчає там класифікацію безхребетних тварин.

4) Що ви робили вчора о 8 вечора? – Я закінчив свої справи і займався перекладом нової статті з мікробіології. Я вивчаю англійську мову за професійним спрямуванням і щоденно перекладаю тексти з наукових журналів.

II.

Вченні стверджують, що існує понад мільйон різних видів рослин та тварин. Рослини та тварини сильно відрізняються одне від одного розмірами, виглядом, кольором тощо. Ці відмінності добре видно, якщо порівняти рослини, трави, дерева, квіти або різних комах, птахів, риб, людей. Незважаючи на всі відмінності, живі організми мають багато спільного. Як рослини, так і тварини залежать одне від одного у підтриманні життєвих функцій.

9. Translate the text into Ukrainian and then back into English, compare your version with the original:

a) In this rich varied world there are large plants, like trees, some of which are the largest living things. There are plants, thousands of which can live in a squall drop of water. There are helpful plants that man cultivates, and harmful ones. Plants that live in water, and those that live only on land; plants that produce flowers and fruit, and others that do not; plants that live for hundreds of years and plants that live for only a few hours. Green plants are so common that you may never stop to think how wonderful and how important they are.

b) What life functions are? As we study more about plants and animals and how they live, we shall see that all of them perform several functions in common. These are called life functions. One way of studying animals and plants is to begin with their life functions. These life functions are: sensation (irritability), motion, food-taking, nutrition (digestion, absorption, circulation, assimilation), respiration, excretion and reproduction.

10. Read one the following passages, without a dictionary and reproduce them to your groupmates:

a) Visitors to Khosta, a resort on the Black Sea Coast, always go to see the great silver poplar, that grows there. Ten people with joined hands can just encircle the tremendous tree, rising sixty five metres above the ground. The unique plant is at least 160 years old.

b) Deep in the sea it is always dark, for sunlight cannot reach down more than about a half mile. The only light in all this vast darkness is made by animals them-selves. Certain squid which are cousins of octopuses, swim in schools and keep together by means of coded flashing lights. Many kinds of deep sea fish have lights on their bodies. It is believed that this beaming of light helps them to recognize their own kind.

c) Scientists know that all living organisms are luminous. But why? Hundreds of guesses were made and thousands of experiments staged. Now scientists established that luminosity of living organisms is their mode of jettisoning excessive energy, of "letting off steam", so to speak.

Is there any practical use to be had from the discovery? Yes. It was established that the luminosity of the organisms is connected with their general condition. Cells affected by cancer, for example, are less luminous than healthy ones. Thus one more method of discovering the presence of that illness has been found.

d) Plants are sensitive to sound. Indian botanists proved that by subjecting plants to sound of definite pitch, it is possible to stimulate or hinder their growth. A seven-year experiment showed that rice and tobacco are the most "musical" plants.

11. Get ready for the following imaginary situations:

1. You are going to be a guide for a group of schoolchildren who have come to visit your faculty. Tell them about the biological museum and what they will see there.

2. Many people like to keep pets at home. Your friend is no exception. Ask him what animals he keeps. Tell him about plants and animals.

4. Your friend says that only animals cannot live without plants. What is your opinion?

Читайте також:

1. Animals: describing people
2. Dogs, cats, cows, horses, pigs are animals.
3. Food from animals
4. IV. Discuss the poem from the previous exercise. What do you feel when you plant a tree? How important are plants in our lives? Try to add one more verse to the poem

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